"I'm so hungry…" Lucy moaned, hanging backwards off the ship and dangling her fingers in the ocean. Despite the energy drain and how she immediately became dazed and sleepy, she enjoyed the feeling of the cool water weaving through her fingers.

A shadow passed over her and she started up. "Oi, Zoro!" she grinned, eyes narrowing in on her target, "I'm gonna catch that bird, and then we'll eat it."

"'Kay," yawned the swordsman, leaning back to watch.

She giggled and stretched her arms out to sling herself into the air. Sixty feet in the air, and it began looking like a very bad idea. The thing was actually three times her size, and as soon as it saw food flying straight towards its face, it clamped on tight.

"Owe!" she yelled.

From down below, Zoro could be heard calling her an idiot.

"Sorry!" she yelled, "My first order as your captain: rescue me!"

"What the hell kind of captain are you?!" shouted the man from below, but immediately began rowing the boat after the bird, which was flapping benignly in the direction of what Lucy hoped was an island filled with food.

[-M-]

About ten minutes later, they were, in fact, flying over land. Lucy huffed and prepared to kick the bird hard to get it to drop her - but, it seemed that would be unnecessary. A few second's worth of a feeling of impending doom, and then she was plummeting away from an explosion of heat and feathers.

"God damn," she coughed, getting up from the ground only a little worse for wear, "Why a canon? Who tries to kill someone before they've even met them?"

She blinked, looking at the face of a red-haired girl and feeling her heart squeeze just as hard as it had with Zoro. "Who are - ?"

"Ah, boss!" the girl said quickly, giving her a sweet smile, "I've been waiting for you to save me!"

"That's great," Lucy said with a raised eyebrow, "But who are y - ?" But she was already gone, running surprisingly fast on those heeled boots of hers.

"So she left…" Lucy heard behind her.

"But there's still this boss of hers." A blow to the side of her head sent her treasure flying - and she immediately returned the hit hard enough to feel the man's nose crunch between her knuckles.

"Don't," her eyes flashed, "Touch that. Ever." A minute longer had all three of them on the ground, out cold.

"You're pretty strong."

Lucy turned to the source of the voice and found the girl sitting cross-legged on the edge of a balcony that hung out over the street. To her surprise, she noted that she couldn't hear any other people coming to investigate the noise, or reprimand her for cracking the cobblestones where she'd landed from her fall.

But, first thing's first. "Who are you?" she asked the red-haired girl, some annoyance seeping into her tone now. Even Coby hadn't been this tight-lipped, and he'd kept cutting off normal sentences to insert the word 'impossible' somehow.

"I'm Nami," she said brightly. "A thief who only steals from pirates. We should team up."

"Not interested," Lucy shrugged, but eyed the girl with some speculation. Her heart was throbbing steadily at the sight of her small smirk and cute orange hair. "Why's the town so empty?"

"Hang on!" the girl jumped down and landed nimbly on her feet. How she managed to do that in those heeled boots of hers, Lucy really wanted to know. She'd tried heels. They didn't work.

"If we team up, we'll get a lot of money," Nami tried.

"I'm not interested in money," Lucy said. "Have you seen a green-haired man running around? With three swords?" As if the green hair wasn't distinctive enough.

"No," the thief said, "But why don't you wanna team up? I'm a good navigator!"

Lucy turned towards her. "A navigator? You should join my crew!"

Nami scowled, "That's what I've been trying to say! Wait…" her eyes narrowed, "Your crew?"

"Well, it's just me and one other guy right now," Lucy said, shrugging, "But we'll get more people and then we'll get out onto the Grand Line, to look for One Piece!"

"I knew it," Nami said angrily, "You're a pirate."

"Ah, come on," the black-haired girl said soothingly. "Pirates aren't all that bad." More to the point, if this girl just randomly took off, Lucy could bet her heart would implode if she didn't know she was safe.

Nami paused, "Well, I guess you're right. But...first, before I join your crew...you have to do something for me."

"Anything for a good navigator!" the other girl winked, giving the redhead a thumbs up.

[-M-]

"Anything...for a good navigator…" Lucy twitched, "No matter what way you look at it, at this point becoming part of my crew isn't in her plan!" she raged, angrily headbutting the bars of her cage. Behind them, Buggy the Clown's crew celebrated the new addition to their crew with juggling, unicycling and booze.

Nami sauntered over, not the least bit tipsy from the large quantity of alcohol she'd consumed. "Hey, boss, how's it going?"

"You rotten liar," Lucy said, "You could at least get me some meat."

The thief complied, and Lucy's heart wimpily skipped a beat at the show of friendship. She licked her lips after swallowing the well-seasoned morsel that was fed her. "You're not too bad," she amended. Then, just to annoy the redhead, half-hoping she'd think it was amusing and agree, "I'll let you join my crew again."

"I don't want to!" Nami seethed, then sighed, "Don't worry, I'll let you go. I feel kinda bad for tricking you, even if you are a stupid pirate."

"Piracy isn't about hurting people," Lucy said seriously, "It's about being willing to risk your life for what you want most." She nodded towards the circus that was happening a few feet away, "For some, that's treasure. For you…?" she tilted her head.

Nami scoffed, "Also treasure. Don't try to martyr yourself into getting me to work for you."

Lucy grinned, "Just get me out of here, Liar."

The girls smirked at each other for a moment, before a white-gloved hand settled on Nami's shoulder. "Nami," Buggy leered, "It's time to show your loyalty to me."

[-M-]

"My hero!" Lucy cheered, ignoring the way Zoro was scowling.

"Oh, shut up!" the swordsman yelled, "Is this your idea of fun? Crazy woman…" He turned to Nami, who was pressing her burnt fingers against the cool stone rooftop, "You okay?"

"The other crew member you were talking about…" Nami gaped, "Was the pirate hunter Zoro?"

"Yeah!" Lucy grinned, "Hey, wanna join now?"

The redhead only shook her head in disbelief.

"The famous swordsman Zoro," Buggy said, with a grin, lips the color of gore splitting into a crooked smile, "If I take your head, my name'll definitely grow in fame!" Somehow, from his coat, he procured a set of throwing knives, and he prepped to hurl them at the man.

"If that's what you want," Zoro said, "You'll have to fight for it."

Lucy waited grimly for the splash of red that usually accompanied bodies being sliced to pieces, but it never came. Not bloodthirsty enough to wait around for it, Zoro stepped towards her cage to try and figure out how to get it open, muttering over the titters of the clown's crew.

A terrified feeling started up in Lucy's stomach - "Zoro, look out!" she screamed, and the swordsman narrowly dodged a comical floating hand that was holding one of Buggy's throwing knives. Unfortunately, without anything to stop it, the hand kept going, and the knife buried itself in the captive pirate's arm, slightly buffered by the ropes that bound her, but getting an impressive amount of blood flow all the same.

"Shit," Zoro said, looking ready to beat himself over the head for letting her take the hit.

"Wow," Buggy said, all limbs, including his violent hand, floating up and assembling to make him a whole man again. "What a lousy crew member you are, Roronoa Zoro! Letting a tied-up woman take the shot that was meant for you."

And Lucy got mad. "Attacking from behind is cowardly, you dumb, big red-nose!"

There was a hush. Buggy seemed unable to comprehend what she'd just said, muttering her words to himself again and again. His crew gaped at her, some making noises like they were choking.

"So many things on his person to insult," she heard Nami whisper, "And out of all of them, you choose the one he has a complex over."

[-M-]

Lucy didn't feel too bad about Zoro carrying her cage, since she was wounded and he was apparently strong enough to handle it without the blood vessels in his eyes bursting. She just wished that she hadn't lost track of Nami in all the commotion.

"Hey, hero," she said, "Stop for half a moment and cut these ropes."

Zoro complied, ceasing his dragging of her cage down the street and scowled, "Don't call me that. You're hurt from the blade I dodged."

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "You're gonna have to work on that." She held still for Zoro's slices, and then paused. "A dog?"

"A dog?" Zoro echoed.

Because in front of them was a dog. That wasn't moving. And - Lucy must have been growing delusional from blood loss at this point - she was feeling her gut giving a small tug toward the cute canine, like it was important enough to remember.

She poked it.

It chomped down on her already injured hand; she shrieked.

"Idiot! You're already injured, don't do stupid things!" Zoro shouted, swatting the dog away from her.

"I can't help it," Lucy breathed tiredly, "I'm a glutton for punishment." Her stomach growled. "And food." She stuck a leg through the bars and scuffed his boot. "You got any snacks?"

"Who are you?" A new voice said. Lucy turned to see an old man there, accompanied by -

"Navigator!" she cheered.

Nami scowled, "I'm not your navigator. But here," she walked over and unlocked the cage, then helped the dark-haired girl climb out of it.

"Phew!" Lucy hopped in place and swung her arms around to work out the kinks in her muscles, accidentally spraying Zoro's shirt with blood.

"Who the hell acts like that when they're bleeding?!" Nami shrieked. "Sit down while the chief treats your cut!"

Lucy obeyed, wiggling a little, and then turned to the chief. "Hey, old man, what's this dog's deal?" She nodded at the thing, which was now eyeing the key Nami'd placed on the cage speculatively.

"Ah, well, you see...this store, it's Shushu's treasure," explained the armored man, not being too delicate in his sewing up of her wound. She'd probably have another scar now. Gramps would be pleased. But that wasn't too important right now.

"Treasure…?" she asked, eyeing the pooch as it drank from a bowl Nami had retrieved for it.

[-M-]

"I'm sorry! I forfeit!" the beastmaster cried nervously, holding up his hands in defeat.

"Sorry won't bring back Shushu's store," Lucy said murderously. Though he'd seemed one hundred percent ready to jump in when the lion had started targeting the old man and their navigator, who he'd been told to guard, Zoro now hesitated. Yeah, she knew she could get scary when she was this angry. "I'm not going to dish out some petty ass-whooping," Lucy snarled, "This is payback."

[-M-]

"Hey," Zoro smirked at her as they ran after the chief, "You got a plan?"

"I call Buggy," Lucy said, sandals slapping the cobblestones in time with her panting, "The rest is up to you guys."

"Listen," Nami called, "I know I said we'd work together, but - "

"Yeah, yeah," Lucy said, "'Treasure is your number one priority', right?"

"...Yeah." Nami huffed. "Glad we're on the same page."

[-M-]

Several beatdowns later, the trio sailed rapidly away from the town, Lucy and Zoro trading looks while Nami raged.

"They kicked me out! Me! After I specifically told them I had nothing to do with any of it!"

"Well, actually, you had your fingers in every pie there, so…" Zoro said, gingerly touching the bloody spots on his shirt, searching for wounds.

"You shut up! If it wasn't for your knocking the old man out - !"

"He would've gotten in the way," Lucy tried to placate the other girl.

"There was no reason to say that you were the one who did it!" Nami shrieked. "And there was definitely no reason to leave half of MY treasure behind!"

The redhead grabbed Lucy's collar and prepared to push her overboard, stopping only at the Strawhat's panicked "I can't swim!"

And then Zoro started laughing, and Lucy couldn't help but let out a snicker when Nami slapped the swordsman's cuts with a hand dripping saltwater, and pretty soon the three of them were on their asses giggling and crying because of one injury or another, the navigator having tried desperately not to join in and failed.

"Your hat," Nami stretched out an open hand, "I can sew the cuts back up, if you want."

If her heart squeezed at the sight of the thief's smile, Lucy didn't show it. "That'd be nice."